Louisiana exec seeks control of paper

The new executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention is asking the convention’s newspaper to dissolve its independent board and come under the executive’s authority.
   
Under the proposal from executive director David Hankins, The Baptist Message would be controlled by the convention’s board and assume a public relations role.
   
“We’re at a time of transition,”  Hankins said. He noted Baptist Message subscriptions have dropped, and the publication now is facing a change in leadership as Editor Lynn Clayton retires at the end of 2005.
  
Meanwhile in Missouri, a conservative newspaper created by the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) may move the other direction — from answering to the executive director to answering to an executive board committee — after a debacle over journalistic freedom.
   
In Louisiana, Hankins presented his proposal to Baptist Message trustees during a called meeting in Alexandria in early April.
   
Hankins said his goal of having at least 90 percent of state Baptists “thoroughly integrated and enthusiastically supportive” of the convention will be better served by a centralized communication structure.
   
Asked what would happen to state convention funding of the Baptist Message if trustees decided against his proposal, Hankins said he could not guarantee he would support the current arrangement and likely would push for the newspaper to rely on other revenue. He said he will move ahead with plans for a new communications division regardless of the decision. But he added he does not intend to lead a convention fight over the issue.
   
Clayton, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of a newspaper that has proven itself trustworthy. He suggested the results Hankins is looking for could be reached with the state convention and the Baptist Message working in tandem toward common goals.
   
In Missouri, a member of the executive board of the conservative MBC recommended placing The Pathway, the convention news journal, under the authority of a work group of the board instead of the executive director.
   
Last year, state executive director David Clippard fired Pathway’s managing editor, Bob Baysinger, after the reporter wrote a story about the sale of the convention building to make way for a new county jail. Clippard reportedly had agreed to keep the sale quiet so county officials could negotiate with other property owners. County voters later rejected a sales-tax increase required to build the jail, negating the $2.8 million sale.
   
Executive board member Roy Dameron cited “the Baysinger debacle” as evidence that The Pathway should not be under the executive director’s control, according to the Web site Ethicsdaily.com. Such an arrangement “is not an appropriate working relationship and is not conducive to adequate journalistic reporting,” Dameron said.
   
Mitchell Jackson, state convention president, countered that “we must not forget that The Pathway’s primary purpose is not journalistic integrity; it is to serve the MBC … as a vehicle of communication with our churches and members.”
   
The Missouri convention established The Pathway after Word & Way, the convention’s historic newspaper, moved to select its own trustees. It also defunded Word & Way, removed it from the convention’s building and filed a lawsuit to regain control. The lawsuit was dismissed but is under appeal.(ABP)